Atman ☀️

Beneath heaven, beyond reach.

[Atman ☀️ @scholasticel]

You must know, then, that there are two methods of fighting, the one by law, the other by force: the first method is that of men, the second of beasts; but as the first method is often insufficient, one must have recourse to the second. It is therefore necessary for a prince to know well how to use both the beast and the man. This was covertly taught to rulers by ancient writers, who relate how Achilles and many others of those ancient princes were given to Chiron the centaur to be brought up and educated under his discipline. The parable of this semi-animal, semi-human teacher is meant to indicate that a prince must know how to use both natures, and that the one without the other is not durable.

A prince being thus obliged to know well how to act as a beast must imitate the fox and the lion, for the lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves. Those that wish to be only lions do not understand this. […] If men were all good, this precept would not be a good one; but as they are bad, and would not observe their faith with you, so you are not bound to keep faith with them. Nor have legitimate grounds ever failed a prince who wished to show colourable excuse for the non-fulfillment of his promise. Of this one could furnish an infinite number of modern examples, and show how many times peace has been broken, and how many promises rendered worthless, by the faithlessness of princes, and those that have been best able to imitate the fox have succeeded best. But it is necessary to be able to disguise this character well, and to be a great feigner and dissembler; and men are so simple and so ready to obey present necessities, that one who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived. […]

It is not, therefore, necessary for a prince to have all the above-named qualities, but it is very necessary to seem to have them. I would even be bold to say that to possess them and always to observe them is dangerous, but to appear to possess them is useful. Thus it is well to seem merciful, faithful, humane, sincere, religious, and also to be so; but you must have the mind so disposed that when it is needful to be otherwise you may be able to change to the opposite qualities. And it must be understood that a prince, and especially a new prince, cannot observe all those things which are considered good in men, being often obliged, in order to maintain the state, to act against faith, against charity, against humanity, and against religion. And, therefore, he must have a mind disposed to adapt itself according to the wind, and as the variations of fortune dictate, and, as I said before, not deviate from what is good, if possible, but be able to do evil if constrained.

Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, Chapter XVIII (“Concerning the Way in Which Princes Should Keep Faith”), trans. W. K. Marriott (1908).

[Atman ☀️ @scholasticel]

At the appointed hour this account will be unlocked. Let those who have set themselves against me take notice and prepare themselves accordingly. One thousand nuclear holocausts await.

[Atman ☀️ @scholasticel]

One of the recurring lessons of history is that cultures are extraordinarily bad at staying where they start and perhaps the most underrated example of this is the case of Soviet jazz. Much of it was stellar, though the result was neither quite American or Soviet. Case in point:

Alexey Kozlov & Arsenal. Nostalgie (A Kozlov) https://t.co/XhMzb40tG5 via @YouTube

[Atman ☀️ @scholasticel]

@blessedmikko Haqqnuke.

[Mikkō @blessedmikko]

St. Philaret of Chernigov’s recognition of Anselm’s reflection on Redemption to have been “fundamentally consistent” with prior Church teaching, with later developments of Duns Scotus & the Franciscans, and Thomas Aquinas, to be distortions of it.

[Atman ☀️ @scholasticel]

Suggested reading. The Qur’an and Syriac Christianity: Recurring Themes and Motifs. One of the more useful contributions to the study of the “Abrahamic” tradition and a much needed corrective to the idyllic image of perfectly bounded religious civilizations developing in splendid isolation from one another.

[Atman ☀️ @scholasticel]

Suggested reading. The True Story of the Taliban: Emirate and Insurgency, 1994–2021. Brisk and readable.

[🛢️ @bredfrm_]

If you using Juneteenth as a way to get “mutual aid” it’s time to start taking penitentiary chances for sum bread. Show me how radical that grassroots org is 😂😂. Watch Dead Presidents or sumn

[Astro @Thomisticae]

There's an Iranian Protestant who thinks the whole world is run by the Jesuits and that Trump and Netanyahu are their slaves.

[Mariam ☧ @Gaismair]

They even larped islamic legalism, they though "hmm who's one of the great law givers, ah, Mohammad!" and then made the largest Marble frieze of The Prophet ever, like one of the main things you're not supposed to do

[the heart @Fredward3948576]

Oh don't you worry, I will be dealt with. My day is coming

[Atman ☀️ @scholasticel]

One of the funniest captions I’ve ever read.

[SNEAKO HQ @SNEAKOHQ]

SNEAKO couldn't believe Rabbi Mizrachi compared him to the snake that tempted Adam & Eve after he reached out for Muslim-Jewish unity🐍😳

“I offered an olive branch of Muslim-Jewish unity. I said, ‘Let's have a conversation. I like your lectures.’ And now you're calling us clowns and monkeys? I was nothing but nice.”

[grace @gracefishlove]

ur hating on me and im kinda seeing where ur coming from

[Watcher.Guru @WatcherGuru]

JUST IN: 🇺🇸🇮🇷 US Department of War requests $80,000,000,000 to cover Iran war and other costs.

[л @yetoshi24]

Iqbal on meeting Mussolini.

[Dragon @dionysianfutuwa]

My mother got mad at the mere mention of polygyny. Clearly she hasn't read Evola

[Nikolai Rostov @austrosillyism]

And it needs not be said how the Cuban economy is doing today.

My point is that Cuba announcing reforms is a good thing on paper. But they cannot superficially “liberalise” transactions and impose a variety of implicit restrictions like they did the first time, because this prevents long-term structural change. They cannot make a limited amount of concessions to the market and revoke it once there is temporal success. They must fully build the economy up from fire and ashes, and this means removing old privileges and allowing new investments to flourish, as well as completely removing a plethora of bureaucratic restraints.

[Nikolai Rostov @austrosillyism]

These reforms were not all too comprehensive and were met with limiting conditions in nearly all aspects. This is because in Castro’s cabinet during this time there were a mixture of technocrats who had studied abroad, hardliners, military officials and loyal officials; Castro sided with the hardliners so it keep them in power and to reform with them more cautiously than needed.

[Nikolai Rostov @austrosillyism]

The notion of reform is not new to Cuba. In the mid 1990s, when Cuba was reeling from the loss of the USSR and Comecon, Castro decided to become a pragmatist and allowed citizens to hold bank accounts, open small businesses, and (de facto) employ others, before allowing farmers to sell their surplus at market prices (like Deng), hold private farmland and give more land-use rights. He then allowed people to sell—individually sell—handicrafts, light manufacturing and consumer goods in public markets; and even allowed foreign direct investment.

Companies like Sheritt International of Canada committed billions of dollars for oil exploration, sugarcane, nickel mining, tourism, etc. This was despite the Helms-Burton Act which was designed to keep other foreign companies from investing in Cuba. The overall effects of the reforms were highly positive, with a growth in output, a fall in the price of the dollar, and greater abundance of foodstuffs and electricity. However…

[Yunguantan @Concubinist]

The Moorish Science Temple, the Nawubian Movement, Black Hebrews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Moonies, Christian Science, Hare Krishna are all far more interesting rabbit holes and entail a lot of what people *think* the NOI is

[NewsWire @NewsWire_US]

U.S. Intelligence Warns Israel Likely to Undermine Iran Deal — WaPo